Tuesday, 29 November 2016

At long last a new version of Weight Tracker and Weight Tracker Pro is now available for Android on the Google Play Store.

The main new feature here, and the most requested, is the ability to sync your data across devices, quickly and easily. To do this, the app now backs up your data to your Google Drive account which most Android users will have by default.

If you are an existing user, the app will ask you to Connect to Google Drive:

Before starting, make sure you have an internet connection as Google Drive is a cloud based service. Press CONNECT and wait a few moments as the app attempts to connect you to Google Drive. Once connected you will be asked to choose an account and to give permission for the app to use Google Drive:

Select the Google Drive account you would like to sync your data to. Next the app will make its first back up of your readings to Google Drive, from then on it will make weekly back ups automatically.

Save -Success, your readings have been saved to Google Drive

Press the back arrow on the top left to return to the main menu.

If you are a new user, the app will help you get set up on Google Drive in the Welcome Wizard:

Before starting, make sure you have an internet connection as Google Drive is a cloud based service. Press CONNECT and wait a few moments as the app attempts to connect you to Google Drive. Once connected you will be asked to choose an account and to give permission for the app to use Google Drive:

Select the Google Drive account you would like to sync your data to. If you are upgrading to the Pro version of the App, or may already have existing readings, press the Restore Readings button

Previous readings successfully retrieved.

On the main menu, the help button has now been replaced with a Sync button

Press the Sync button to go to the new Sync Readings screen

This screen allows you to save readings to and retrieve readings from your Google Drive account.
To transfer your readings to another device, say from your Phone to your tablet:

On your phone press SAVE

Wait a few minutes for Google Drive to upload your data

On your tablet, press the REFRESH button, check the date and time reported is when you did your save. You may need to press a few times as G Drive will take a few moments to load any new files.

On your tablet, press RESTORE, the app will load all readings and sync them to your existing readings. New readings will be added and updated readings will overwrite your current existing ones.

That's it, press back!

Other New Features

The Pro version of the app now lets you print out your reports:

If you don't have a printer, the report can be saved as a PDF file.

A few extra BMI stats have been added, so if you're BMI is 31.4, the report will show you the weight you need to be to achieve a BMI of 31, 30 and 29. This is handy when you need to set yourself a new weight goal.

Note the print icon, top right

The app has had a lick of paint and now uses Material Design, so buttons are now borderless. The Pro version of the app has a sky blue color scheme and the standard apple blossom. You can still change the background color but not the toolbar colors.

The app no longer uses the SD-Card to back-up or transfer your readings, the reasons are:

The app now longer requires the permission to access your photos / music

Transferring readings was a pain, I get a lot of emails asking for help.

Ads

Good news the banner ad now only appears on the chart. I've also placed a native ad in the middle of the report, these ads will scroll with the screen content and are less intrusive and harder to accidentally click. All ads are provided by Admob, a Google owned company. The pro version of the app is completely ad free.

About Me

Pig Dog Bay was born in an inn deep in the Staffordshire moorlands. He lived in a small box under the pool table and was fed on pork scratchings left in the ash trays.

One day a raucous rock band called Motorhead played at the inn causing mayhem, so Pig Dog spied his chance and had it away on his trotters.

The nights were cold and after many days of trotting, a weary Pig Dog took shelter in a green house where big ripe tomatoes grew. The next day the owners son spotted Pig Dog and took pity on the hungry creature. Together they played computer games on a dusty old ZX Spectrum, eventually the son left and Pig Dog was all alone. Dabbing at the rubber keys, Pig Dog had made a computer program:

PIG DOG BAY

PIG DOG BAY

PIG DOG BAY

Whizzed up the screen. This pleased Pig Dog greatly. Many years later the son returned and was so happy to see his old friend, he gave Pig Dog his Google Nexus 7. Pig Dog squealed with glee and now wanted to show the world his little apps.